Low RPM knocking

Think the spring that engages the kicker gears inside the tranny broke and the inner most cog is slapping around. What do you guys think?? time to split the cases and snoop around???
Took a video but not sure how to get it from my picture folders here...any help on that issue??? Basically what happening inn the video is I am working the kicker by hand and you can hear the ratchet working but it isnt engaging and cranking the engine over..not a hint of it even trying to grab. So the gears inside that mesh to engage the crank are just slapping around is what Im thinking here..thus the clunking going on. Sound about right???

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What gets me is the kicker engaged many time after I turned the crankshaft with the wrench and got it unstuck...so what the heck is going on with the kicker mechanism???


EDIT...BRAIN FART ALERT!! I had the clutch lever bungee corded back so I could work the choke and starter button while its up in the air on the lift. Undo the bungee and the kicker engages like it should.

Rechecked the gaskets on intake manifolds and bough some starter fluid to squirt on them when the bikes running to see if the RPMs change...and they did not. so this pretty much eliminated the air leak possibility. Timing light shows timing is spot on too. I am burning 87 octane gas and was wondering if a higher octane fuel may be needed??? Was a thought as I was going thru the service manual checking stuff.

Next, I got the Carbtune sync gauges out and redid the vacuum sync and all 4 bars are dead even across so this eliminated the carb sync being out of whack. Took the cam chain tensioner off and checked the spring length per the service manual and alls well there. Rod moved freely and it snapped back against the cam chain with an audible little click as the chain cam tight. locked down the bolt and jam nut per the manuals instructions.

All this and still noise. So next i took the clutch cover off. Big hub nut was tight. Clutch outer basket has a little wiggle room on the trans shaft so I took it all step by step following the manuals procedures.

Found the bushing between the outer basket and the input shaft was at the very lowest service limit. Next I checked the freeplay between the clutch basket gear and the secondary gear and it was well within service limits ( I had put new dampener rubbers in the clutch basket when I did the rebuild ).. Then moved on to the gap between the friction plates and the baskets fingers check. this was a .6MM with just a little slop so I figured this could be a source of rattle / clunking noise.

I put the tranny in 1st gear and turned the input shaft and theres a good amount of freeplay form left to right but other trannys i have felt had this too so I dont thin k its a major concern.

I have a new bushing, a new needle bearing, and new friction plates ordered so I sure hope they quiet the noise down considerably.

chuck hahn wrote: Rechecked the gaskets on intake manifolds.......

? The "intake manifolds" i.e. carb holders do not have gaskets. So if you found gaskets on them there is a problem. Ed

Not leaking or else the starting fluid would have made the RPMs go way up for the large amounts I sprayed on each one. I laid a rag under the carbs and sprayed each one till they dripped off the manifolds and not so much as 1 RPM rise out of any of them. So if theres no leaks Im considering that a win.

Gonna yank the engine and split the cases again to take another tour. theres something amiss in the tranny gears or bearings I think. Doesnt take that long to reinvetsigate.

Assuming you checked all the previous excellent suggestions, I had the same problem some time ago, it sounded like a camchain slap, but I knew the noise was not there in the morning, after a lot of checking (firstly the carbies) I found my alternator was slipping/ loose on the crankshaft.
What threw me was the noise sounded like a clutch damper spring broken, the noise did not appear to be from the alternator side.

I had taken all the covers off to polish the corrosion off before reassembling the engine. Note that I did not split the cases initially. I did the top end with new valve stem seals ect ect and new rings and gaskets. Can I get a decent look and feel the tranny bearings and stuff just by dropping the oil pan instead of doing the full cases splitting???

Posted a new thread today as a follow up to this knocking situation...

www.kzrider.com/forum/2-engine/604802-af...arket-ring-confusion